Waterwasy Project: Spring Sketchbook

First Hint of Spring:Thatcher Pond

I'm back in the blogging saddle again after weeks of web lethargy. Like dry spells in art making, I think we creative bloggers need a bit of a break now and then.

I'm glorying in the change of light lately. At last, signs of Spring are sprouting and the snow has thawed. This is a piece from my sketbhook this month. I'm playing around with incorporating rice paper collage into my ink and watercolor sketches. It adds a nice bit of line work that's subtle.

Geology Underfoot in Illinois by Raymond Wiggers


Waterways is calling me to learn more about the strata under and around our area and I'm reading a really great book called: Geology Underfoot in Illinois by Raymond Wiggers. In the book are 37 sites, suitable for trip destinations, with a short discussion on the rocks visible. Wiggers even includes a rock hunting trip in downtown Chicago that reveals the use of local stones in our famous architecture.

For example, the Chicago Cultural Center is clad in pale granite and "The Midwest's most famous and most widely used sedimentary cladding, the Bedford limestone. What makes it wildly popular is that it is easy to cut,carve and very durable." I love this sort of geeky field trip!


In that same chapter, I learned that under the city of Chicago are Eighty feet of clay. Chicago was formerly a swamp and I knew this made building difficult but imagine having to drill 80 feet to hit bed rock. (New York City, for example sits right on top of bed rock.)

The thought of all that slippery clay beneath the city has inspired me to work on a few pieces around this idea. Here's a planning sketch from my book:



Strata
Water soluble marker

Happy Spring everyone and I hope you can get outside for some artmaking.

Police Department Gallery: Darfar Hu

Please keep the Four slain officers, their families and the community of Oakland, California in your prayers this week. This event happened during a routine traffic stop and shows the dangers of even the most common tasks of police work.

Darfar Hu,our current artist, lives and shows his work in Taiwan. His family friends and his daughter are helping him show his work here in the US and I am very grateful for the assistance of the Li family in the loan of his landscapes.

Mr. Hu is self taught and uses tin cans and brads hammered into a wooden panel to re- create scenes from his childhood village in Taiwan. This metal mosaics glow with color. Up close the mosaic pieces are smaller than a safety pin. Step back and all the tiny pieces fold into a beautiful landscape.

To see more of his work, visit the Oak Park Police Department's Art Gallery web page or Hr. Hu's own web site. He is adding an English language translation button to his site soon.


The truly amazing thing is that I had another show all lined up but due to my over reaching ambition, we had to cancel that show. Why did I think I wanted to transport and hang art work worth $5.000.00 a piece? To be fair, I did not know the real value of the pieces unitl Craig and I showed up to move them....in our tiny car.....Each show is a huge lesson in gallery management.

Imaginary Fashions

When life weighs too heavily on your shoulders; or too serious, overwhelming (feel free to add any appropriate adjective here to suit yourself), its time to crack out the magazines, glue sticks and scissors. Magazine collage was one of my earliest media from childhood. So, in honor of Fashion Week, here are a few imaginary fashions for those unusual circumstances.


"City Map Dress"

This is a New York City rapid transit map. How handy would this be as a travel garment? Of course you would need to get some kind native to read the back of the dress to tell you where to get off the train.





"Dig This"

I know many of you are wondering just what to pack for the spring archaeological dig season.This is the perfect combination of style and practicality.




" A Little Bit of Everything"

I'm imagining a time in the future when, having scanned all her clothing into a special program, the woman who says she hasn't' a thing to wear, can wear a little bit of everything in her closet.

More Mud Works

10" x 10"
Watercolor, ink, mud and gold paint on paper

Normally, I don't double post with my Watermarks group but the comments on my most recent mud post there were so rich that I wanted to share them here too as a resource for all things muddy.

Vivien recommended looking at Australian aboriginal art

Vivien also had the following mixed media recommendation: "I have used sand in mine when I've been at the beach, deliberately incorporating it into oil paint - mud looks interesting"


Laura recommended the work of Richard Long : "I saw one of his circle paintings made with mud from the River Avon at the Heyward Gallery in London, round about 1993, and was moved, deeply and inexplicably."
Laura was also reminded of the work of Andy Goldsworthy.


Katherine responded with some really great links:
Richard Long's web site

And her link for Richard Long's newsletter which lists all the permanent exhibitions

If you'd like a little background information, you can read more about hiim here:
Wikipedia for Richard Long

Katherine also recommended that I produce a demo "on how clays in different places have different colours?"

After reading Katherine's comments, Larua recommended this book:Colors of The World


Gesa commented:" With a friend we did a series of experiments with mud/sand and emulsion paint and trying for different flow, speed etc."

Sarah shared the work of this guy's beautiful work :"Paul Lewin, an artist from Beside the Wave has been using the clay from where he is working to draw with. I think adding a bit is a little bit of magic, giving a sense of place on another level, even if it is just water."

Jeanette added yet another artist who uses mud and on this link, she explains how she bonds the mud to her substrate.


Ronell shared some wisdom from her beloved South Africa:"It (using mud) also reminds me of the bushmen(san) rock paintings, where they've used mud as a painting medium, bird droppings for white, charcoal for black rock and blood to colour their "paints"...some of their many materials. And how about egg white to bind the mud? Or even beeswax as you would do with restoring furniture. "

And two visitors contributed to the discussion also:

Armella Benton Studio recommended using Utrecht's modeling paste extender as a way to stabilize the mud.

Sydney Harper recommends looking at artist Jean Schulman who does batik paintings with different colors of local clay.


In the mean time, I've found yet another artist who uses clay, Deane Huff. She uses a unique process of mono prints on a clay slab using colored clays.


It's really wonderful to have such knowledgeable readers and members commenting and helping! Keep em coming.

Ruth- 1956-2009

Over the weekend, my Sister-In-Law lost her 10 year fight with cancer. She was a very kind, loving and supportive sister to me and a big fan of this blog. I'll miss her love,humor, conversations and her support of my art. We have been remembering her and our family reunion in Cambria, California last summer.

Ruth was a big embroider and we have several pieces she made our family members over the years. This is an old piece I dug out and want to finish in her honor.